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Ciguatera is increasingly attracting greater public attention and discussion among the general public and within the community of food safety experts. As the geographical instances of ciguatera fish poisoning expand, discussion is turning to the implications this may have on the diets and nutrition of the affected regions and on international fish trade.
Earlier this week, FAO’s Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, jointly with the Agriculture and Consumer Protection Department, organized an interagency meeting with the World Health Organization (WHO), UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Panel on Harmful Algal Blooms (UNESCO-IOC), and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). [more]

This was the provocative title of an interesting AgTalk held at FAO’s sister agency, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in Rome, Italy on 10 December.
Fisheries and aquaculture play an important role in addressing global poverty and food insecurity. About 60 million people worldwide are employed in the primary sectors of fisheries and aquaculture. 85 percent of those 60 million work in Asia and an additional 10 percent in Africa.
In rural areas, fisheries have a very important socioeconomic and cultural dimension as a source of livelihoods and a way of life.
Women have a big stake in fisheries and aquaculture, particularly in fish processing and marketing, where they constitute 90 per cent of the labour force. At least 15 percent of all people directly engaged in the fisheries primary sector are women. [more]

Georgia, a small country in the Caucasus with a population of 3.7 million, enjoys significant marine fisheries resources. With a coastline along the Black Sea, its annual catch of Black Sea anchovies (Engraulis encrasicolus) totals 60 000 metric tonnes.
Most of this catch is currently sold fresh to neighboring countries or processed into fish meal and oil. However, Georgia would like to be able to export directly to the European Union (EU), the world’s largest importer of fish and seafood products in terms of value. In 2014, the EU imported fish and seafood products for a value of 21 billion euro, making this an extremely interesting export market for countries like Georgia. [more]

It’s fitting that while world attention this week is focused on the important climate change negotiations taking place in Paris, France at COP21, a small group of experts in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire are planning how to improve the livelihoods, food security and resilience of one of the groups most affected by climate change: coastal communities.
Globally, more than 40 percent of the population lives within 100 km of the coast. For coastal communities along western Africa, oceans are central to the lives of those residents – providing incomes and livelihoods to fishers and those working in related industries and serving as an important and healthy source of protein and essential nutrients. But the effects of climate change, unsustainable fishing and environmental practices, and illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing are taking their toll on the livelihoods of these vital fishing communities. [more]

Fish plays an important role in fighting hunger and malnutrition. Not only a source of proteins and healthy fats, fish is also a source of essential nutrients, including long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, iodine, vitamin B12, vitamin D, zinc and calcium.
Over 10 million people in Kenya currently suffer from chronic food insecurity and poor nutrition, and between two and four million people require emergency food assistance at any given time. Nearly 30 percent of Kenya’s children are classified as undernourished and micronutrient deficiencies are widespread.
This is why the EU-funded Indian Ocean Commission SmartFish Programme in collaboration with the Government of Kenya, have launched the "Eat fish for a better life" campaign aiming to promote the consumption of local fish and to inform the public about the importance of fish consumption for our health and growth. [more]

Last May, during a regional meeting, stakeholders approved the Lake Chad Fisheries Management Plan.
The Lake Chad Basin Commission, in cooperation with its partners, FAO and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and with the support of the African Development Bank and the Government of Sweden, has been working for more than a year with the Lake Chad fisheries sector and other stakeholders to develop this regional fisheries management plan to ensure sustainable fisheries management in the Lake. The plan is needed to ensure the sustainability of a yearly fishery production of around 100 000 tons, and valued at about USD 200 Million.
According to Felix Marttin, FAO Fisheries Resources Officer, “Many factors threaten the highly important fisheries sector on Lake Chad, including overfishing, pollution, and water use for competing needs, such as agriculture. [more]

At FAO Headquarters in Rome, various partners, including experts from research institutions, CSOs, academia, and the International Labour Organization (ILO), met 17-18 November for a technical workshop entitled Social protection to foster sustainable management of natural resources and to reduce poverty in fisheries-dependent communities.
Worldwide, the fisheries sector employs over 110 million people and feeds billions. The sector is especially important in developing countries, where fisheries and aquaculture provides important opportunities for rural employment and livelihoods and translates into significant trade revenue.
Further exacerbating the problem is the fact that coastal and other fishing communities are often located in remote areas where livelihood opportunities are limited. 1 comment(s)

At Vitorchiano, a small village north of Rome, Italy, forty stakeholders – representing governments, fisherfolk organizations, academia, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and international organizations, including FAO, the World Bank, the United Nations Environment Fund (UNEP), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Conservation International, and the World Fund for Nature (WWF) – came together to discuss the design of the national and regional projects under the GEF-financed Coastal Fisheries Initiative (CFI).
The four-day workshop covered a wide range of issues related to the ambitious programme, including various aspect of its design, including: outcomes, indicators, monitoring and evaluation, and collaborative learning designed to share experiences across the regional projects. [more]

We’ve already blogged about the First International Fisheries Stakeholder Forum celebrating the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries in Vigo, Spain last month.
We’ll also be providing further details of many of the sessions and side events surrounding that event, touching upon various issues related to the code of Conduct.
One such issue addressed was how to better communicate the increasingly important role of aquaculture in meeting the growing demand for fish and seafood products. In the two days following the Vigo meeting, an international workshop was held on aquaculture perceptions.
[more]

We will regularly feature on this Blue Growth blog a round-up of newspaper, magazine and journal articles, radio programmes, and television interviews highlighting FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture staff as they share their areas of work on all aspects of fisheries and aquaculture. [more]